Back in March, I went down to Nashville to visit my best friend, Chelsea, who moved back there last year! Nashville is amazing in general, but the Nashville Food scene is extra awesome. I typically title my posts as the “best” places to eat or visit but saying that you know the best places to eat in Nashville is ridiculous because there are so many. With that being said, these are all so damn good and it’s going to take a lot of convincing to try new places next time I visit, because two months later and I am still dreaming of all of these yummy meals. These are in no particular order other than when I visited them. I am going to take you through the full three days I was there so you can make it your itinerary if you’d like!
The Optimist
For our first night, we made our way to The Optimist. The Optimist is located in Germantown and it’s an awesome new and incredible restaurant offering a bit of everything but specializing in seafood. We absolutely loved this restaurant! If you’ve been to The Optimist before, you know what I am going to talk about first, THE ROLLS. Oh my god, think Hawaiian rolls X 100. These perfectly baked, buttery, delicious rolls are what they bring you first and right then and there I knew the meal was going to be amazing.
We started with oysters and ceviche and learned the menu changes often so don’t get your heart set on anything in these pictures, except the rolls, of course, those are here to stay. We loved the cocktails here as well, we tried Into the Sunset, El Rio Bravo and In Full Bloom and they were all awesome.
Our appetizers and oysters were all great and then we split the flounder with crawfish and creamy lemon sauce and that was also incredible.
To finish off the amazing evening we tried their coconut cream pie. This is something I hope they never take off the menu because it was by far the best coconut cream pie I have ever had. I can’t wait to go back and get more!
Daddy’s Dogs
If you’re craving a hot dog in Nashville, Daddy’s Dogs is the place to go. We knew we’d be doing a whole lot of eating so we split a big daddy and it was the perfect snack! If you’re here for lunch and you don’t have a huge appetite one is plenty but if you’re hungry definitely get 2+ because they are so good. The Big Daddy is a daddy dog topped with cream cheese, bacon, pickle, grilled onion, jalapeno, and daddy’s secret sauwce. (yes it’s spelled SAUWCE)
Their Instagram is also pretty incredible so take a look and follow along!
We took a little break and made our way to GasLamp Antiques. It’s a giant warehouse that goes on forever and you can find some awesome treasures here.
I love the beautiful art sprinkled around Nashville.
L & L Market
Oh man, how do I put my love for this adorable market into words! L&L Market is the sweetest market filled with adorable clothing shops, incredible gourmet food, trendy coffee shops, a milkshake bar, and a cheese conveyer belt!? We walked through a couple of shops waiting for the cheese conveyer belt to open and then enjoyed that as an appetizer before getting some Italian food downstairs.
Culture Co.
I love Nashville for a million reasons but my favorite is that I try or experience something extremely unique every time I visit. Whether it’s new music, some sort of other entertainment, or food, and this time it was a cheese conveyer belt. What an awesome idea!
This is the perfect place to come for an appetizer before you head downstairs to Penne Pazze for dinner. The menu offerings rotate but we loved the Bruleed Brie, Noble Springs Nashville Hot Cheese, and the Young Manchego. WOW WOW WOW. I also got a glass of one of my new favorite wines, Aurora Rosso Piceno. Sooooo dry, full bodied, and yum.
Penne Pazze
Again, it’s going to be tough to find the words to describe my love for Penne Pazze. Two brothers from Italy started this authentic Italian restaurant and the food was soooo good and the service was so welcoming. Chels and I have both spent time in Italy (she’s actually Italian and) we both haven’t had this great of Italian food since visiting Italy!
We ordered gnocchi and their mushroom pizza and they were both awesome. Chels has been a few times before and said no matter what she gets it is always incredible.
East Nashville
Chelsea lives in East Nashville so after running around other parts of the city for a day, we took a walk to get some yummy breakfast right in her neighborhood before more adventures. I visited at the end of March and the trees were just starting to bloom so it was an extra pretty walk.
Sweet 16th Bakery
Located in East Nashville is the most adorable bakery ran by a husband and wife with some ridiculously good breakfast sandwiches and treats. Perfect Prince Cowboy hoping he could go in with us…
For just $2.95 you can get their “One To Go” which consists of a baked egg and cheese casserole with mild green chilis served hot on their house-made cheddar cheese scone. So simple. So yum.
Next time I go I really want to try their Dos Papas Burrito: a combination of white potato, sweet potato, three varieties of onion, two kinds of cheese, their house blend of spices, all wrapped up in a 10” flour tortilla. They take a few breaks throughout the year so make sure you check their website to see if they are open when you visit!
Radnor Lake State Park
We hopped back across town to enjoy a walk through Radnor Lake State Park. Every time I am in Nashville I have to visit this park! There are so many great trails and parks around Nashville but this one has always been so special to Chelsea and since I always hear about it, I love to visit with her.
We always walk around the lake and it’s about 3 miles but it’s a 1,368-acre park and there are 7.75-miles of trails if you want a longer hiker. The trails are strictly used for hiking, photography, and wildlife observation. We stopped at a bench to journal for a bit and it was so fun to see all the turtles and birds! It’s so peaceful here.
El Jaliciense Mexican Restaurant
If I were you I’d recommend saving Radnor for after lunch but it just worked out for us to go first. Both Chels and I have heard so much about Birria Tacos lately so we had to try some together. She heard that there were some great ones served at the Mexican restaurant down the street from her (East Nashville) so we decided to try them out! Oh. My. God. Soooooo delicious! The tacos were so good and the dipping sauce (consume), really made them. If you like Horchata, I definitely recommend trying theirs here as well, it was so creamy and good.
East Side Banh Mi
Now for another incredible meal enjoyed in East Nashville. Ok, I know I have said everything was delicious but it’s because everything really was. But East Side Banh Mi, GOD DAMN. Chelsea lives right across the street from this place and I seriously don’t know how she doesn’t eat here every single day. Let’s first talk about this limeade. It’s seasonal and I got lucky they just started serving it the week I visited! It’s the perfect addition to your banh mi and so Instagram-worthy.
Now let’s talk about this sandwich. I have been dreaming about a proper banh mi since I visited Vietnam in 2016. I have tasted some really good ones but none ever come close to Banh Mi 25 in Hanoi. Well, I am here to say East Banh Mi has done it! It truly brought me back to my time in Vietnam. All the sandwiches looked incredible but I went for their pork. It consists of roasted black pepper-caramel pork shoulder and all of their banh mi’s are served on their fresh house-baked 10″ baguette with fried shallot mayo, pickles, cucumbers, cilantro, jalapeños & Maggi I added a side of their pâté and would definitely recommend it.
I will be thinking about this banh mi everyday until I get to have another!
Jeni’s Ice Cream
A stop to Nashville isn’t complete for me until I get an ice cream flight from Jeni’s. This time I got their Brambleberry Crisp, Salted Peanut Butter with Chocolate Flecks, and Goat Cheese with Red Cherries! Chelsea introduced me to Jeni’s a few years ago and if you’ve never had it I recommend you try it ASAP! It’s so creamy and they offer some really awesome and unique flavors.
Downtown Nashville
As I mentioned at the beginning, there are so many amazing restaurants and bars in Nashville. It would take forever to visit them all, but Chels really wanted me to check out Kayne as one of her best friends works there and I have heard so many great things about the food here. It definitely did not disappoint. I recommend saving Kayne for your last night to go out with a bang.
Kayne Prime Steakhouse
I started with a silvertrain (half gin/half vodka) martini with blue cheese stuffed olives and it was pure perfection.
We then moved on to whiskey sours and tried their kale salad and duck tacos that were all incredible. We came here for drinks and appetizers so we sat at the bar. I personally love sitting at the bar or in the lounge when restaurants have the options, but there is a beautiful dining room as well if you’d prefer to sit there and are doing a full sit-down dinner.
If you do decide to stay for your main course I’ve heard the steaks here are to die for. They also have an incredible dessert menu. We personally drank our dessert and if you decide to do the same I couldn’t recommend the Vanilla Old Fashioned more. It consists of Chattanooga 91 High Malt Whiskey, Amaro Nonino, vanilla, and orange. So yum.
Well, as you can tell I absolutely loved my time eating everything and visiting my gal in Nashville. I wonder how many times I wrote yum, incredible and amazing in this post!😂🧐 This city absolutely has a piece of my heart and to anyone who hasn’t been, I couldn’t recommend visiting it more.
Of course, I couldn’t fit in everything so some other restaurants and bars I love or have been dying to try are Hathorne, Mas Tacos, Two Ten Jack, and Zeppelin. Next time I’ll be hitting these for sure! Have you been to Nashville!? What are your favorite bars and restaurants? Click here to read about one of my previous trips to Nashville.
